Dead Man Talking
by One More Disaster
Summary: "Catch-Fly" 'verse. Sequel to "No Condemnation". Almost four years after first receiving the offer, Silene finally takes Gibbs up on the offer to transfer to his team. But first, they have to catch the killer and the reason why. fem!Harry
1. Chapter 1

**Title: "**Dead Man Talking"

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any person, place or thing you may recognize. I do, however, own Rhett Bartlett, the Dorsey case, the name Silene Marie Black and astracrabs, though I did not come up with the name on my own.

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **language; case related violence; minor character death; crossdressing; female Harry

**Fandoms: **_NCIS _and_ Harry Potter_

**Characters: **Tony DiNozzo, LJ Gibbs, Silene Black, Kate Todd, Tim McGee, Amanda Reed, Commander Voss and several unnamed bar patrons, with background appearances of an OC Agent, Cassie Yates and Director Morrow; mentions of Chris Pacci, and James and Lily Potter

**Spoilers: **specific spoilers for the s1 episode, _Dead Man Talking_, with a minor spoiler for the s2 episode, _SWAK_

**Summary: **Almost four years after first receiving the offer, Silene finally takes Gibbs up on the offer to transfer to his team. But first, they have to catch the killer and the reason why.

**Word Count: **1,273/5,251

**Author's Note: **This story is set in the same 'verse as "No Condemnation, and takes place almost four years later, during the episode _Dead Man Talking_. This is the story of how Silene became a member of Team Gibbs.

Due to various things that happened between the Battle of Hogwarts, and Silene fleeing to the US, she wears various masks at work, much like Tony does. I have decided to have Silene model her mask after Luna, so I imagine her talking in a light, dreamy voice, with a slightly dazed and distant look on her face.

This story is complete at three chapters, and the second chapter will be posted on Friday, with the third chapter being posted on Monday. Let me know what y'all think.

Fae

* * *

Chapter 01

It had been a rough day and a half.

Tony loved his job, but he had never regretted getting a call from dispatch more than he did with this case. It wasn't that the scene was the worst that he had ever seen. That dubious honor went to a triple homicide in Philly that was so horrible that no one talked about it.

Ever.

But the fact that the Vic was a friend and fellow agent made this scene all that more gruesome.

They hadn't done much recently, but before Kate joined the team, he and Gibbs had occasionally come across a case that needed more manpower than a two man team. When that happened, they would team up with Pacci and his crew.

Seeing a good friend lying in that elevator, completely gutted, was an unwelcome wakeup call.

True, they all knew that every time they strapped on their Sig and went out into the field could be the last time they ever did so, but NCIS had been pretty lucky. As far as Tony knew, they hadn't lost an agent since he started at the agency back in oh-one. The DC office, at any rate.

The worst part, in Tony's opinion, was standing in MTAC with Gibbs and Director Morrow while they let the rest of Pacci's team know about his death.

Agent Bartlett, out in San Diego, had been easy enough. He had taken the news stoically, which didn't entirely fit with what Tony knew of the man, but he supposed everyone dealt with their grief differently. Agent Yates had been hard. She had collapsed into her chair in shock, tears in her eyes.

However, both Bartlett and Yates had transferred off of Pacci's team almost two years ago, so while they were both close to Pacci, they were far enough removed from the situation that they would be able to move on easily enough.

Pacci's current Senior Field Agent was a different story.

She had been on Pacci's team since she first started with NCIS, almost a full year before Tony himself had started with Gibbs. When the other two agents had transferred out, she had been promoted to SFA, and she had done an amazing job. Together, she and Pacci had been almost as efficient as Tony and Gibbs.

The four of them had been a good team when they needed to work together, even with Gibbs, whose interpersonal relationship skills were notoriously awful up and down the East Coast.

Tony was almost relieved they hadn't been able to reach her yesterday through MTAC. He didn't want to be anywhere near the scene when she found out. He almost pitied whoever got stuck with that job. If Morrow were smart, he'd let Bartlett tell her, since she was his probie.

Still, things were about to get a little better. It was stakeout time. He loved stakeouts. They were so much fun. He loved absolutely everything about them. He was going to have a blast messing with Katie's head, although he could have done without Gibbs' comments.

He wasn't that bad, was he? He didn't think so.

He followed the rest of the team over to the elevators, nearly running into Gibbs when the team lead didn't immediately enter. He looked over Gibbs' shoulder and gave a mental wince when he saw Agent Black standing there.

She ignored everyone, staring at Gibbs with her normally bright green eyes dulled from the pain. Her face was pale and drawn, with shadows under her eyes. She was less put together than normal and he wondered where she had been when she heard the news.

He watched in amusement as Gibbs and Silene carried on a silent conversation. There had always been a connection between the two of them that Tony had been a little jealous of. He wasn't sure what it was, and most of the time, he was able to ignore it. He had his own connection with Gibbs that no one else had.

But watching the other SFA stare down the biggest bastard in the agency drove home just how close the two of them were. A quick glance at the two junior agents showed that both of them were unaware of the subtext flowing between Gibbs and Silene and he mentally shook his head.

For a profiler, Kate could sure be pretty blind when it came to certain people in the agency. He didn't even think that Kate knew Silene as anything other than Agent Black.

Silene maintained eye-contact with Gibbs, not blinking, for several long moments, before Gibbs jerked his head towards Tony and McGee.

"You're with DiNozzo and McGee."

Silene's shoulders relaxed and she nodded, stepping back to allow the team into the elevator.

"Wait, what?" Kate asked as she followed Gibbs and Tony into the elevator.

"Silene's joining the team," Tony explained as he stood next to Silene. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, giving her a squeeze.

She looked up at him with a small smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"Silene Black, Pacci's SFA," Tony said. "Tim McGee, Kate Todd," he finished, jerking his head at each of them in turn.

Kate gasped. "Oh," she said. "I'm sorry."

Silene stiffened under his arm and Tony shot a mild glare in Kate's direction. Silene didn't want sympathy, she wanted justice; revenge. He didn't blame her. He'd definitely want the same if Gibbs had been killed.

The ride to stakeout site was silent and tense. With Silene in the car, even Tony wasn't willing to crack jokes and lighten the mood. When they got to the apartment, Silene threw herself into set-up. While she worked, Gibbs held Tony back in the doorway.

They looked at each other and Tony could see the unspoken order in his eyes. _Look after her._

Tony just sent him a look. _Of course._

"Silene, I need-" Gibbs began, pausing when a file appeared in front of his face. He raised an eyebrow. "Is this-"

She nodded and he grunted, flipping through the first couple of pages.

"Good job. Go get some sleep."

She opened her mouth to argue, but he shot her a look.

"Sleep, Silene. You're no good to me or Chris if you're too exhausted to do your job."

Her shoulders slumped and Tony had to strain his ears to hear what she said. "I don't want to be alone," she whispered in that British accent he loved so much.

"Abby's lab, at least three hours, or you're benched."

She nodded reluctantly and Gibbs jerked his head towards the door.

"Go. At least three hours, then help DiNozzo and McGee with background on the case. The three of you have second shift. I want you well rested and on top of your game."

She turned towards the door.

"Hey," Gibbs called, closing the space between them in two steps and turning her around, his hands on her upper arms. "We'll get this dirtbag. I promise."

She gave him a small smile that looked more like a grimace.

"We'll get him, Silene. He won't get away with this."

Silene nodded, her expression hardening.

"Now get. DiNozzo."

"Yeah, Boss."

"Make sure she gets some sleep."

"You got it." Tony put his hand on the small of her back and ushered her out the door. "We'll be back in eight hours."

As the three of them left the apartment, Tony heard Kate start bombarding Gibbs with questions, and he could tell that McGee was bursting with questions of his own. Fortunately, McGee was still sufficiently cowed by Tony's over-exuberant nature and was holding back.

Hopefully it would stay that way.


	2. Chapter 2

**Word Count: **1,995/5,251

**Author's Note: **Here's the second chapter. This deals with the stakeout itself, with McGee learning a little about Silene, while Tony muses on masks. Hope y'all enjoy. Let me know what you think.

Fae

* * *

Chapter Two

By the time the three of them returned to the apartment, Silene had managed to get in four hours of sleep, and a nice shower. Her eyes were still full of pain, but she was looking more like herself than she had earlier.

She had remained quiet, not saying anything to McGee as she started compiling information on the case. She had answered a few of Tony's queries in a soft voice, but was withdrawn in her grief.

It didn't bother him terribly. Just like he had a persona that he wore at work, she had one of her own. He, Gibbs and Pacci had been privileged enough to see behind that mask, and he knew this was her way of coping with the loss of her friend and mentor.

He also suspected that she was blaming herself for not being there to provide backup.

When Kate opened the door for them, Silene slipped past her, ignoring the other woman's attempt to talk to her, and claimed a seat against the far wall, still engrossed in the file she had been working on.

Tony kept one eye on her as he and McGee shared what they had uncovered with Gibbs. Then Kate came out of the bathroom and started hazing him about keeping the bathroom clean. He mentally frowned, but played along, hoping to get some sort of reaction from Silene.

To his surprise, Kate was the one who got a reaction out of her. Silene looked up at the barb about his aim and narrowed her eyes at the other woman. Kate didn't see it, since she was busy gathering up her stuff and heading towards the door, but Tony caught it, and he wondered about it.

As soon as the door closed behind Gibbs and Kate, Tony leaned towards McGee, an excited grin on his face.

"We so have to go there," he said, already running through several different pranking possibilities.

"You do realize that any prank you pull on Kate will also be pulled on Gibbs," McGee said.

Tony frowned. That was a decent point, but he was fairly certain that Gibbs would be a good sport about it. They had had another one of their silent conversations and he knew that Gibbs was just as worried about Silene as he was.

Still-

"Good point. But still, we can't just let it go." He could see Silene watching them over the top of the folder, looking mildly interested, and cheered to himself. Now if they could just draw her out.

"Look, Kate is expecting us to do something, right? So I was thinking that we don't do anything, and only let her _think _we did something."

"Hmm," Tony said, narrowing his eyes in consideration.

"I enjoy a good prank as much as you do, Tony," Silene said suddenly, her voice soft and airy. "But I'm with Agent McGee on this one. I think the best one would be to mess with her head and not do anything. She'll drive herself crazy trying to figure out what we did."

"So we're agreed then? We pull a mental prank, instead of a physical one?" Tony asked.

"Yes," Silene said as McGee nodded.

"Great." Tony put his fist out. McGee stared at it.

Silene rolled her eyes, but moved towards the center of the room, placing her hand on top of Tony's fist.

"Come on, Probie," Tony urged.

McGee hesitated, but set his hand on top of Silene's. "Now what?" he asked.

"Um-" Tony began, an over-exaggerated look of confusion on his face.

Silene got a soft smile on her face. "You're a dork, DiNozzo," she said in that light, dreamy tone of hers, pulling her hand out of the pile and reaching up to touch his cheek with her knuckles. "Thank you."

He gave her a genuine smile. "Hey. Chris was my friend, too. And Gibbs was right. We _are_ going to get this bastard."

"I know." Her smile turned slightly more genuine for a moment before she turned to go back to her seat, picking the folder back up again.

"You know," McGee said after several long moments of silence. "Agent Pacci had been going over that case for the last three years. Do you really think you'll be able to find something new?"

Silene stiffened minutely and Tony glared at McGee, causing the other man to begin backtracking.

"Not that- I mean, I didn't mean to imply-"

Silene sent Tony a mild glare. "It's all right, Agent McGee," she said. "And I'm aware. Whenever we had a break in active cases, Chris was always poring over this file. I don't expect to find anything he didn't, but a second pair of eyes never hurts anything."

Tony shook his head with a fond smile as he turned to the surveillance equipment. He understood keeping up a mask around coworkers, but he had no idea how Silene managed to keep up that dreamy, ditzy blonde act. She wasn't even blonde, for crying out loud.

Now, he knew it was an act. He had been privileged to see behind the curtain, and she was no incompetent wizard. She was sharp as a tack and an absolutely brilliant investigator.

He had heard the rumors floating around the office about her. Within two months of starting at NCIS, Silene had cracked a cold case that had baffled some of the best the agency had to offer, by linking it to seven other cold cases in the tri-state area.

Yet, still, despite her success on the Dorsey case, most of the agency continued to dismiss her as a flighty, ditzy little thing that had gotten a lucky break by having friends in the right places.

She did nothing to discourage it, either. In fact, she encouraged it. She kept her gaze distant and unfocused, her voice light and airy, and walked around in a daze most of the time.

Of course, the people who knew her, the people who cared about her, they knew what was hidden underneath that façade. They had seen her eyes harden into sharp emeralds when she was focused on the dirtbag in front of her. They had seen the quick, efficient movements that indicated much more training than what she could have received at FLETC.

If she had even gone. He had his doubts about that one. Her file was almost completely sealed. It was worse than Gibbs' file.

He was curious- of course he was- but he wouldn't go digging out of respect for her. Gibbs trusted her, and that was enough for him.

What he was most curious about, however, was how she did it. He had trouble keeping up the carefree, overgrown Frat boy persona all the time, and he had three years of personal experience to draw on. But how did one successfully pull off the ditzy blonde?

People said he was the ultimate undercover agent, but that wasn't true. If someone took him and Silene, and put them both undercover, then asked the Mark to pick which one of them was the cop, he'd be pegged every time. Silene was no one's idea of a cop.

"Can I ask you something?" he heard McGee ask, and turned his head slightly to see the other man out of the corner of his eye.

"Hmm?" Silene asked, glancing up at him over the top of the file.

"You're British, right? How are you a US agent? Don't you have to be a citizen to work for the government?"

"My parents were British citizens and I was raised in England, but I was born at the US Embassy in London. The Embassy is considered US soil, which makes me as much of a US citizen as if I were born here in the States."

"Really? What were your parents doing at the US Embassy?"

"They were attending a party. Mum went into labor early and there wasn't time to get her to a hospital."

"How long have you been at NCIS?"

"I moved to the States in late ninety-nine and started at the Agency in January of two thousand. I joined Chris' team as the Probie. When Rhett and Cassie transferred out to other teams a little over a year later, I was promoted to SFA."

"With only one year of experience?" McGee sounded surprised.

"I had several years of experience in law enforcement prior to joining NCIS. Chris felt I could handle it, and Director Morrow agreed."

"What will you do now?"

Tony turned to send a full glare at the back of McGee's head.

Silene caught his eye over McGee's shoulder and the corner of her lips twitched slightly. "Gibbs once offered to get me transferred to his team if I ever grew tired of working with Chris. If that offer still stands, I will take him up on it."

"You know we'd love to have you, Silene," Tony said.

"When did he offer that?" McGee asked.

"The February after I started here. It was the day I broke the Dorsey case."

"_You _broke the Dorsey case?" McGee asked, incredulously.

"Silene is a good investigator, McGeek. Gibbs wouldn't want her if she wasn't," Tony said with a frown.

"No, I'm sure she is. I just- I studied the Dorsey case at FLETC. The instructor said that some of NCIS' finest couldn't solve that case. It's just hard to believe that a probie was able to solve it after only two months at the agency. We looked over it in class, and none of us had the slightest idea of where to even begin. How did you do it?"

"Rule thirty-five, always watch the watchers," Silene said.

"But the Dorsey case would have been five or six years before you started at NCIS. How could you have watched the watchers?"

"Six," Silene said. "And I used the crime scene photos."

"What do you mean? I studied those photos for six months and I didn't see anyone out of place."

"The Dorsey case was the third in a string of serial kidnappings. There was one man in the crime scene photos for each of the eight cases. I got an ID and discovered that his mother was famous in their town for her blue ribbon roses."

"A serial kidnapping?" McGee asked, his eyes wide. "And no one made the connection before?"

Silene shook her head. "All of the other cases were small town, local jurisdictions."

"Wow. No wonder Gibbs wanted you on his team."

"He was impressed, yes," Silene agreed. "I don't think that was the reason he tried to get me to transfer, though."

"Do you know why?"

"You'd have to ask him," she replied, looking back down at her file in dismissal.

"Let me know when you do, McGee," Tony said. "I'd love to be there."

Silene flashed him a quick smile.

"No thanks, I'll pass," McGee said quickly. "I like living."

"Most people do," Tony agreed.

"Speaking of living, you should get back to work," Silene said. "Gibbs will know if we slack off."

Tony made a face at her, but returned his attention to the house across the street, listening to the conversation Amanda Reed was having with the Historical Society about her house. When the conversation was over, he made a quick decision.

"I'm going over there," he said suddenly.

"What? No! Gibbs said to stay here," McGee protested.

"What Gibbs doesn't know won't hurt me," Tony said, heading for the door.

"What if he checks in?"

"I'll cover for him," Silene said, setting down her file and taking over the surveillance equipment. She caught Tony's eye and nodded at the door.

He inclined his head in thanks and left the room. As the door closed behind him, he heard McGee badgering Silene, and shook his head with a rueful smile. Poor McGeek had no idea what he was getting himself into. Silene was better at deflection than he himself was.

McGee didn't stand a chance.


	3. Chapter 3

**Word Count: **1,981/5,251

**Author's Note: **So, here's the third and final chapter of this story. I don't entirely remember the exact conversation that Tony and Gibbs, and then Tony and Voss had, so I just sort of paraphrased. Pretty sure I got the general gist of it, though.

Anyway, hopefully no one's too mad over how I ended up solving the problem. I kinda felt like she deserved it. :D Let me know what y'all think.

Fae

* * *

Chapter Three

"I'll be right back."

Tony watched as Amanda walked away, a swing in her step, before shaking himself out of the daze and grabbing his phone. He called Gibbs back, hoping the boss wasn't too upset he hadn't answered earlier."

"_Why the hell didn't you answer before?"_

"I couldn't," Tony replied, rolling his eyes at Gibb's abrupt phone manners.

"_Where's Amanda?"_

"In the ladies' room."

"_Swell. We can add that misdemeanor to the list of charges."_

"What are you talking about?"

"_Amanda Reed is Commander Voss."_

Tony laughed slightly. "Good one, Boss."

"_She's a he, Bonehead. And if he's packing a thirty-eight, he killed Pacci."_

Tony straightened in his seat and wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand in disgust. It wasn't so much that he was disgusted at the fact that he had tongued a guy, as it was the fact that he had tongued the guy who had so brutally murdered a friend of his.

He saw Reed-Voss making his-her way back over to the table and snapped the phone shut, pulling his gun and keeping it under the table.

"Did you miss me?" Voss asked as he slid back into the booth next to Tony.

"Of course," Tony said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"What's wrong? Are you the same man I left behind?"

"I don't know. Are you the same woman?" Tony asked, resting the tip of his gun on Voss' thigh.

Voss stared at him for several long moments before shoving the gun up, causing it to go off. He started running for the door.

Tony chased after him, but the other patrons of the bar interfered and tried to stop him. He vaguely heard McGee call out that he was a Federal Agent, but it didn't appear to be doing any good. He was surrounded by several patrons as well.

On the one hand, Tony was pleased to see so many decent people willing to protect a beautiful woman from a perceived threat. On the other hand, said beautiful woman wasn't actually a woman at all, and was instead a vicious killer who deserved to die for what he had done to Chris.

He struggled to break free, only to feel someone break a bottle over his head. He stumbled to his knees and blinked, trying to clear his vision.

A high pitched squeal and a loud thud distracted everyone from the fight. They all turned to see what had happened.

"Catfight!" someone called out excitedly after several long moments of shocked silence.

Sure enough, while the men in the bar had been distracted with stopping him and McGee, Silene had forced her way through the crowd to cut Voss off. She had tackled the man to the ground and they were rolling around on the floor, both trying to get the upper hand and gain control of the gun.

There was one tense moment when Tony was certain that Voss was going to shoot Silene the same way he had shot Pacci, but as soon as the thought had even entered his mind, Silene had managed to flip the man onto his back, pinning his gun hand down with one knee while kneeling over him with a knife at his throat.

A single gunshot halted anyone from moving to interfere and Tony looked up to see Gibbs standing there with his gun aimed at Voss, Kate standing behind him. Tony mentally shook his head in disgust when he saw that Kate's gun was still in its holster.

"His name was Special Agent Chris Pacci," Silene said in a hard voice. "And he was a friend."

Tony watched the three of them and could see Voss considering trying to get off a shot.

"Don't even think about it," Gibbs said, stepping closer so his gun was pointed directly at the center of Voss' forehead.

Tony held his breath, torn between which he wanted the dirtbag to do. On the one hand, Voss didn't deserve to live for one, killing Chris, and two, making Silene cry. On the other hand, Voss didn't deserve a quick death. He deserved to suffer.

Fortunately, Voss decided not to shoot. He released the gun and Kate quickly moved forward to pick it up. "Federal Agents," she said, holding up her badge. "So are those two."

The men holding him let go and he stood up, one hand going to his head as he made his way to Gibbs' side. McGee soon joined them.

"You okay, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked as Silene finished cuffing Voss, making the cuffs a little tighter than strictly necessary.

"Fine, Boss."

"DiNozzo? You said your name was Stringfellow," Voss said, his eyes narrowed in anger.

"Yeah, and you said you were a chick. Seems we both lied."

"I am a chick!" Voss growled.

Silene snorted and reached up to tug Voss' wig the rest of the way off his head. "Of course you are," she said, her voice back to its normal dreamy quality. "How long do you think someone like him will last in prison?" she asked.

"Not too long, I'd imagine," Tony said. "Unless someone makes him their bitch. Then again, he'd probably like that."

"True," Silene said, tilting her head to one side and gazing thoughtfully at Voss. "That dress does not flatter your skin tone," she said. "Unfortunately, I don't think orange will be any better. But if it's any consolation, you'll still get lots of cock."

She gave a large, dreamy smile, her eyes distant in that way she had that made her look mentally slow and was completely at odds with that vulgar statement.

Tony drew on all of his experience undercover in order to keep his face passive. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Gibbs fighting a smile of his own.

"Kate, McGee, take him out to the car. Silene, take DiNozzo to the ER to get his head checked out."

"What? 'm fine, Boss. I don't need to go to the hospital."

"You really should go, Tony," Silene said, coming over and taking his hand. "The doctors will keep the Nargles from nesting. Don't worry. I'll protect you from the astracrabs."

Tony allowed her to lead him to the door, tossing a glance over his shoulder at Gibbs. He could see the amusement twinkling in the man's eyes and knew his were doing the same.

"_She _broke the Dorsey case?!" he heard McGee exclaim in disbelief when he thought they were out of earshot.

"Wait. What?" Kate asked. "Gibbs, is she for real?"

The door closed behind them, before he could hear the answer, but he knew what it would be. They would get nothing out of the boss other than a grunt and a pointed glare, indicating that the two of them should do what they had been ordered to do.

Tony chuckled and pulled his hand free from Silene's, only to drape his arm over her shoulders. "Have I ever mentioned how much I love you?" he asked, shaking his head in amusement. "That was brilliant."

She looked up at him, dropping her mask and allowing her to see the amusement twinkling in her eyes.

He drew her to a stop, turning serious. "Hey," he said. "You did good, Silene. Voss'll be going away for a long time. He'll pay for what he did."

Her smile softened. "I know. I just- I should have been there. I shouldn't have been on that op. They didn't really need me. They could have handled it on their own."

"You were undercover?"

She nodded. "Rhett asked me to come out and help him out. Said he didn't trust anyone else to do it. Cassie could have done it. I should have been here. With Chris."

"Hey," he said, tapping her under the chin. "You had no way of knowing. And Chris thought he was tailing a witness, not a suspect. Even if you had been here, you probably wouldn't have been with him."

"I know, I just-"

"No just. There's nothing you could have done, Silene. But you did bring his killer in. If it had just been us, I don't know if Gibbs would have gotten there in time to stop him from leaving the bar."

"He would have. He _is_ Gibbs, after all."

"Hm. Good point. But still. There's no way to know if we would have been able to bring him in alive. Bastard deserves to rot in prison for the rest of his miserable life. A shot to the head would have been a mercy."

She gave him a half smile. "Are _you _all right?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm fine," he said, blithely waving off her concern and deliberately misunderstanding what she meant. "I've taken harder knocks."

"That's not what I meant. Are you all right with what happened?"

"Not really, no. But I will be."

"If Agent Todd gives you a hard time, you let me know, okay?"

"What do you have against Kate?" he asked, avoiding the request.

"Some of the things she's said and done since joining the Agency have taken the friendly banter to another level. I know that some of the things she's said have hurt you. I like you, Tony. You're my friend. You see beyond the masks, because you wear so many of your own. You accept me for being a little mad. And you don't let other agents say things about me. You protect me. And I protect you."

"I can take care of myself, Silene."

"So can I. But sometimes, it's nice knowing someone else has your six."

She was staring up at him, those green eyes of hers big and bright in their earnestness and sincerity. He offered her a sloppy grin and draped his arm around her shoulders again, steering her towards the car she and McGee had driven to the bar.

"It doesn't bother me that I tongued a guy," he admitted as they walked. "Not like it hasn't happened before. I mean, yeah, I generally prefer knowing which I'm getting when I start, so I was a little thrown by the fact that the person I thought was a beautiful woman was actually a tranny, but I can roll with it, you know? I'm flexible like that. But I am disgusted that I tongued a murderer. Not only that, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed making out with the bastard who killed a really good friend; the bastard who made you cry."

"You had no way of knowing, Tony," she said, slipping an arm around his waist as she looked up at him. "Should you have maybe obeyed Gibbs' orders and not gone near her? Probably. It would have prevented that from happening. But at the same time, would we have actually caught him if you had kept your distance? Maybe. Maybe not. We'll never know. But we both know you didn't do it on purpose. And Gibbs and I are the only ones whose opinions matter. If Kate can't see beyond the womanizing frat boy, then that's her problem. Not yours."

Tony sighed. "I guess you're right."

"Rule thirty-two: in any argument that is not part of an official interrogation, the woman is always right. Once you get that through your head, we'll get along just fine."

"We get along just fine now."

"That's because you know I'm always right." She grinned up at him as they came to a stop next to the car. "Now, come on. Let's get you to the hospital so we can get back to the office."

"I thought McGee had the keys."

She held up her left hand, showing off the keys in her palm.

"Sneaky. Like a ninja," he said in approval. "I like it."

She laughed lightly and opened the doors, sliding into the driver's seat.

"By the way, what _are_ astracrabs?" he asked as they drove off.


End file.
